A variation on minimisation as a manipulative technique is "claiming altruistic motives" such as saying "I don't do this because I am selfish, and for gain, but because I am a socially aware person interested in the common good".[7]

a customer receiving a response to a complaint to a company for poor service being told that complaints like his from other customers were very rare when in fact they are common

suggesting that there are just a few bad apples or rogues in an organization when in reality problems are widespread and systemic (common in private corporations and nonprofit organizations, as well as in public government functions)

Understatement is a form of speech which contains an expression of less strength than what would be expected. Understatement is a staple of humour in English-speaking cultures, especially in British humour.

Related but separate is euphemism, where a polite phrase is used in place of a harsher or more offensive expression.[9]

Redefining events to downplay their significance can be an effective way of preserving one's self-esteem.[10] One of the problems of depression (found in those with clinical, bipolar, and chronic depressive mood disorders, as well as cyclothymia) is the tendency to do the reverse: minimising the positive, discounting praise,[11] and dismissing one's own accomplishments.[12] On the other hand, one technique used by Alfred Adler to combat neurosis was to minimize the excessive significance the neurotic attaches to his own symptoms[13] - the narcissistic gains derived from pride in one's own illness.[14]

Display rules expressing a group's general consensus about the display of feeling often involve minimizing the amount of emotion one displays, as with a poker face.[15]

Social interchanges involving minor infringements often end with the 'victim' minimizing the offence with a comment like 'Think nothing of it',[16] using so-called 'reduction words',[17] such as 'no big deal,' 'only a little,' 'merely,' or 'just', the latter particularly useful in denying intent.[18] On a wider scale, renaming things in a more benign or neutral form — 'collateral damage' for death — is a form of minimisation.